Polish Uniform Portraits and ID

[Robert Sloma]

Here is another puzzle. A few summers ago I snapped a digital image of a photo of my Polish maternal great grandfather Aleksander Reluga (1882-1944) in what appears to be a WWI Russian military uniform. My great aunt told me that he was a Russian military conscript. The image was in an old album and I couldn't remove it to check and see if it was annotated. I have an email to the Russian military archives and they are asking me for more information about years of service and the name and number of his division/regiment. Hey, but that's why I wrote, well anyway I did a quick search online to see what units he could have conceivably served in and here is what I found based on birth, residency,and death in Malinowo Nowe. I am assuming he was in an army infantry regiment, but I guess he could have been a border guard, or other unit. Maybe someone who is more familiar with this era and geographic area may know what units served there or maybe someone can glean some more information from the uniform in the attached photo.

Aleksander Relugacroppedsmall.jpg (134.7 KiB) Viewed 4349 times

Historically under Russian Partition, Lomza (Łomza) Province
Modern Geopolitical Administrative units
Province or State/ województwo: Mazowiecki
County/Powiat: Ostrołęka
Town/Gmina: Czerwin
Village/Wieś: Malinowo Nowe also called Nowe Malinowo

Probably one of these regiments that covered the town of Czerwin:
14 Ołoniecki Pułk Piechoty - (14-й пехотный Олонецкий полк), Łomża.
13 Biełozierski Pułk Piechoty - (13-й пехотный Белозерский полк), Łomża
Maybe this regiment that covered the nearby town of Przyborowie:
24 Symbirski Pułk Piechoty Generała Newerowskiego- (24-й пехотный Симбирский генерала Неверовского полк), Ostrów

[henryk]

I don't have a source, but my understanding is that conscripts were, as a matter of policy, placed in a unit unrelated to the home town, to minimize attachments, and avoid conflicts in following orders.

[henryk]

Uniforms:
http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rusarmy/nich2/rusarm27s.htm
Front and back view of infantry enlisted men.
http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rusarmy/nich2/rusarm11s.htm
13th Infantry Regiment enlisted man, plus other regiments.

[EmilPL]

Hear appears to be a corporal, That is
a regimental badge as corporals and any rank over were eligable to have a regimental badge.

The Virtuti Militari is a bit different in shape and would have a ribbon.

[Lostdaisy]

After much searching I've finally came across this site. Am I right to assume that this uniform is Polish? Any help dating this photo, or any other information about the uniform would be greatly appreciated.

This photo was given to my great-grandfather who came from Kryvchyky, a small village north of Ternopil, now in Ukraine. He immigrated to Canada in 1928. His family was taken in the 1930s from the village to Siberia. I had the opportunity to visit with the surviving family a couple of years ago. This photo or the face was familiar to my 86 year old "cousin".

[Balrog]

I've always liked the 1918-1939 Polish uniforms, but after watching a couple of films about Polish soldiers, I really think that photos fail to do these uniforms justice. Seeing Polish uniforms in films (moving images) gives a much clearer picture of how striking, dashing, and even crisp they really were.

I saw a film last year about the Katyn Forest Massacre, and was really impressed by how nice they looked. I saw a film a few days ago called The Way Back, and one of its main charaters was a young Polish officer.

(If you haven't seen the film, and don't want to read any spoilers, stop reading now.)

In the first scene, the young Polish officer is being brutally interrogated. His uniform is stripped of all insigna and officer pips. He no longer has his cap. He shows obvious signs of rough treatment. The Russians are trying to force him to sign some kind of fraudulent confession. He refuses. The russians drag his wife into the room...

As the film moves along, the young Pole's appearence becomes progressively worse. He spends most of the film filthy, hungry, bloodied, bruised, and emaciated. He looks like a walking corpse. He's dressed in rags.

One of the last scenes of the film is a dream sequence. The young officer appears as his was before war: youthful, clean, and wearing an amazing looking Polish (from the red collar flashes) cavalry uniform. With his insignia, officer pips, and cap, he looks angelic, beautiful. The uniform is dazzling. The director, Peter Weir, is clever. I suppose all of this was intentional. (If it was, it worked its spell on me.)

The Polish uniform is (IMO) in sharp contrast to the black Waffen SS one. The Waffen SS uniform looks sinister .The Polish uniform looks, well, wholesome.

A couple of questions:

1.) Does the Polish army still issue wool dress uniforms? The photos Ive seen don't look like wool to me. How close to the 1939 pattern are current Polish dress unforms?

2.) What is the significance of the black collar flashes? (The white zig zag design)

3.) I once saw a drawing of a Polish cavalry scout in the Austro-Hungarian army. He was wearing a lavender or light purlpe unform. Does anyone have any information about them?

[Piotr Kapuscinski]

http://www.dws.org.pl/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... 5#p1322475

[Hundi]

Hello there!

Can someone help me to find colorised pics of polish soldiers? I try to find it on the net but no results maybe my criteria for the search was bad... thanks in advance.

Regards.

/Hundi.

[sylvieK4]

Hundi, there are several color pictures of soldiers and uniforms in this very thread. A few period, true color photos appear on page 11

See: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 3&p=490922

Other pages here show modern pictures of museum-quality uniforms in color, and even a few period photos that were hand-colorized back in the 1920s and 1930s. You can find them easily by entering to "search this topic" at the upper left of this page.

[Hundi]

Thank you Sylvie! Now I have the whole day free, I'll take a look on every page

Regards.

/Hundi.

[sylvieK4]

Hundi, hopefully it won't take the whole day, but it certainly is worth a look! A lot of great contributions since the thread was started (photos and information) make it a very interesting and helpful resource. Enjoy!

[sylvieK4]

1936. A delegation of Polish combat veterans - in organization uniform - laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier in Berlin (Unter den Linden).


(From: http://www.nac.gov.pl/)

[Balrog]

Any photos of (Polish) Muslim Tartars in uniform?

[John G.]

Sylviek4,
I don't see any "Polish Delegation" in the photograph....the men in the civilian suits carring the wreath are members of the German Veterans Organization NSKOV (Disabled Veterans Organization)....you can see thier cap eagles and German medals....(Possibly the NSKOV cap insignia were mistaken for Polish eagles....)
Just to keep the record straight.
John G.

[sylvieK4]

John, it is from a photo larger than is able to display here. Note the unifomed Polish soldier at background right. In the foreground right, there are several members of the Polish war veterans group. As the image displays here, only one of the group's leaders is visible (the man standing at foreground right). If a moderator would like to remove the truncated photo (as it is obviously causing confusion for some) I have no objections.